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Campbell Soup, like most food manufacturers, faced grocery chain and wholesale demand for its goods driven by Campbell's own promotional pricing structure rather than retail consumer demand. Former policies to encourage overstock created huge swings in production and inventory levels. Campbell's introduced continuous product replenishment (CPR) under which they would manage inventory for their customers, enabled by electronic data interchange to link supply to actual demand. Implementing this channel shift required a restructuring of relationships with its customers and a radical restructuring of its promotional policies.

In 2008 the Boston-based Harvard Business School would turn 100. As the centennial year began, the HBS community and leadership were reflecting on how the School might fulfill its mission to "develop business leaders who make a difference in the world" in the next century. This case focuses on the school's commitment to general management education and its implementation in an increasingly globalized business world.

With an almost forty-year history as a business in China, the Wanxiang Group has navigated through the significantly different political and economic changes in China to succeed as a global leader in the auto parts industry, and to develop into a broad business conglomerate. Beginning in 1994, when it first began its operations in the United States, Wanxiang started to expand its role as a parts supplier into a discerning acquirer of distressed companies in the U.S. While it saw acquisition as an exciting means for growth, company strategy at its Hangzhou, China headquarters also included vertical integration with a goal of developing a full-on electric car. Were these two goals divergent or complementary: mutually supportive or exclusive?

The management team of an industrial equipment supplier is debating the company's method of compensating salespeople. Different executives have offered different alternatives to the current method of straight salary plus expenses. Each option has different implications for business strategy, organization, control systems, and sales management requirements. As a result, the case raises issues and analytics relevant to topics such as aligning strategy and organization, strategy implementation, and cross-functional incentive systems as well as sales management.

Der Spiegel is Germany's most influential political news magazine. In the 1970's, its founder Rudolf Augstein gave a 50% ownership stake to his employees and sold another 25% to rival publisher Gruner+Jahr, but retained significant control during his lifetime by stipulating in the bylaws that every important business decision would require a 76% shareholder approval. When Augstein died in 2002, however, his co-owners exercised the option the same bylaws gave them to buy a 0.5% stake each from Augstein's heirs, who thus lost their veto rights. In September 2007, the benefits and costs of sharing ownership with employees become particularly salient when the employees block the CEO's proposal to acquire 50% of the Financial Times Deutschland. Faced with the new balance of power, Rudolf's eldest son Jakob Augstein is forced to rethink the role that his family can play in Spiegel going forward. Should he try to buy back the pivotal stake? Sell the family stake altogether? But to whom, and at what price?

The Sat & Co. case demonstrates how market orientation can be achieved and how its implementation can lead to superior business performance in the context of the machine tool industry. Sat & Co. consisted of two divisions: the lathe division that manufactured the lathe machines, and the computer numerical control (CNC) division that assembled CNC machines. The capacity of both divisions was underutilized. The problem was that the lathe division manufactured very basic lathe machines and the CNC division assembled very technologically advanced machines. As a result, both divisions failed to satisfy their customers' needs. The lathe division was poorly market-oriented, whereas the CNC division was overly market-oriented. The chairperson of the board of directors was adamant that both divisions must survive, and that a market orientation must be achieved, i.e. the company must meet customers' needs and must improve its business performance.

When Dominique Strauss-Kahn became the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund in late 2007, he faced a number of significant changes. The organization had lost much of its legitimacy over the previous decade, and countries seemed increasingly reluctant to borrow from the Fund. Developing countries had increased their foreign exchange reserves, which reduced their reliance on potential IMF support packages. Furthermore, the IMF found itself unable to influence the macroeconomic policies of the United States and China in order to reduce global current account imbalances, and developing world countries complained that they were underrepresented at the Fund. As the IMF's new Managing Director, Strauss-Kahn had to decide how best to address these challenges and in what direction to steer the Fund.

The CEO of a strategy consulting firm must decide which of the firm's functions, if any, to move to India. In particular, he wonders whether business research--currently conducted by highly paid consultants in developed countries--can be conducted more efficiently and effectively from an Indian research center.

With a 10 year history of doing business in China, Sealed Air was now betting on the country to help propel its growth as a global company. The company identified China as one of the initial investments in the company's Global Manufacturing Strategy that aimed to create efficiencies in its operations across the globe. As Sealed Air's new Shanghai plant starts production in 2008, will its almost $50 million investment pay off? Is ten years of experience in China enough to know how China works?

Subtle biases and covert prejudice affect interactions in the workplace. Subtle biases are automatically activated associations or stereotypes that relate groups (e.g. men and women) with attributes or characteristics (e.g. career or household), often outside of our awareness. Covert prejudice refers to concealed negative opinions about members of other groups. Managers and business leaders can benefit both from understanding how subtle biases and covert prejudices can translate into discriminatory behaviors and from learning to manage in a way that avoids such biases and prejudices. The note has four sections, each of which can be read individually: Managerial Relevance, Subtle Biases, Covert Prejudice, and Managing to Avoid Subtle Biases and Covert Prejudice.

The case explains the ordeal of the newly appointed manager of planning and reporting at Connectco, an outbound call center in Ontario, Canada, who suspected wrong-doing early on at work. After his fears were confirmed, he was very uncomfortable with the situation he found himself in. However, he had to make a choice about how he would respond. This case also portrays, among other things, how young professionals find themselves in situations that create moral distress when they are aware of unethical conduct but feel constrained from taking action to correct it.

A shareholder and silent partner in More Vino Ltd. reviews a request for TT$600,000 in additional funding to finance a renovation for the company. He had initially invested a major portion of the start-up capital. Since then, More Vino has grown in popularity and is now considered the most popular spot for food, drink and entertainment. The shareholder believes that More Vino is a good investment, but he is uncertain whether lending additional capital at this time is the best solution for the business.

On August 14, 2007, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in cooperation with Mattel announced five different recalls of Mattel's toys. On September 4, Mattel announced three more recalls. Some were due to the use of lead paint, while others were due to small magnets coming loose. The (B) case outlines the handling of the recalls and its consequences, such as consumer outrage, media scrutiny, government intervention, and the effect on China. Further, it discusses the design flaws for which large toy companies are responsible. The (B) case raises many issues, such as who Mattel's stakeholders are, what values Mattel followed, and whether Mattel needs to revisit its China strategy.

Avaya's top management wants to improve demand generation. This requires an improvement in the relationship between Sales and Marketing. This case series (Avaya (A)-(D)) walks the student through each phase of this process. The (A) case begins with background on the firm, and asks the student to come up with a strategy to improve the way in which Sales and Marketing work together. In the (B) case, we see their strategy in the form of a "unified funnel" and a demand generation framework. The unified funnel communicates the idea that not only should the marketing funnel and the sales funnel be linked "vertically"--in the sense that Marketing's leads should flow seamlessly into Sales' funnel--but they should also be integrated horizontally. This latter point refers to the idea that Sales and Marketing should each play a role in each phase of the process from email marketing solutions right through to the close. That is, they argue that the two functions are best integrated by encouraging them to work simultaneously, not just sequentially. The demand generation framework, on the other hand, makes explicit what it means for them to work together. For example, they stipulate that Marketing should be included on the weekly sales conference call. The students are then asked to think about how they would implement these ideas. In the (C) case, the implementation plan for a specific market--Brazil--is described. In particular, we are given data that were used in the roll-out process that showed the market's managers how they compared with other markets on a number of dimensions. Finally, the (D) case shows some early data suggesting that this new method of working together has had a significant impact.

This case examines a successful 64-year old as he considers his goals, and how he should be spending his time, at this stage of his life. It briefly recounts his life story, and provides a special focus on personal financial planning and wealth management issues.

This case tackles the topic of global talent management. It can be used to analyze the performance measurement, incentive, and talent development system used at a major multinational company. This case can also be used to analyze the extent to which this system should or should not be adapted for China and other emerging economies.

Since being appointed CEO of Moët Hennessy España (MHE), the Spanish subsidiary of the wine & spirits business of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH), the world's leading luxury products group, Ramiro Otaño had overseen a spectacularly successful run at the company by any financial measure. Despite the company's growth, some of the employees who had been at the company for years were complaining that the company had lost its "human touch" in the process of professionalizing and modernizing to capitalize on the fantastic market opportunities that had opened up in Spain. Some felt that the work was now too structured and interpersonal relationships too dry. Otaño acknowledged that the financial success had happened on the expense of the informal and relational atmosphere that used to characterize the company. But did it matter, Otaño wondered? How should he go forward?

The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business offered a discipline-based, flexible MBA program to full time, evening, weekend, and executive MBA students. At a time when other MBA programs were introducing significant changes to their curricula, Chicago felt its traditional approach worked well, and it was not contemplating significant change. This case describes Chicago's approach to MBA education and the challenges it faced.

In 2007, the leadership of the Indesit Company is focused on long-term corporate strategy. After 3 decades, the company has emerged as the number 2 home appliance producer in Europe. Should they invest further to be number 1, or should they focus on the global market, and if so, which part of the world? A subordinate issue is how to manage their multiple brands. Should they consolidate? This case has extensive data on global markets.